'Boy racer' who killed beautician in horror 110mph crash is jailed
‘Boy racer’ who killed beautician in horror 110mph crash when his Range Rover ploughed into Tesla dealership before ending up on tracks at Park Royal Tube station is jailed for 7½ years
- Yagmur Ozden died instantly after being ejected from the car last August
- Rida Kazem was told he was ‘showing off’ to his passengers before the tragedy
A ‘boy racer’ who killed a young mother in a horror 110mph crash when his car ended up on the tracks of a London Underground station has been jailed for seven and a half years.
Beautician Yagmur Ozden, 33, died instantly after being ejected from the rear of Rida Kazem’s £180,000 Range Rover SVR following the smash in west London last August.
Kazem, 24, who was ‘showing off’ to his two passengers, smiled as he was sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court today – while relatives of Ms Ozden wept from the public gallery.
The driver’s front seat passenger, Zamarod Arif, survived as she was wearing a seat belt and suffered a broken arm and leg in the crash on the A40.
The car landed upside down on the tracks of Park Royal underground station causing commuter chaos as the Piccadilly Line was closed down.
Yagmur Ozden, a mother-of-one, died at the scene of the crash at Park Royal Underground Station in August last year
Rida Kazem (pictured outside court last month) pleaded guilty to causing the death by dangerous driving following the horror crash in west London
The mangled wreckage of the Range Rover involved in the A40 crash ended up on tube tracks
Jailing the 24-year-old, Judge Martin Edmunds told Kazem he was responsible for an ‘unnecessary tragedy’.
He told Kazem he had showed no real remorse and had even attempted to shift blame to his victims by suggesting one of the two women to have been driving.
‘I have no doubt that you were showing off to your passengers, both showing off your powerful car but also what you thought of as your superior driving skills,’ the judge said.
‘What is all too clear is that your skills were wholly inadequate.’
The judge said Kazem, who wasn’t wearing a seat belt and was also thrown from the vehicle before it landed on the tracks, had been guilty of persistent and deliberate bad driving.
He told the driver, who was in a coma for almost a month and had his left leg amputated: ‘The speed and violence of this simply horrific crash reduced the car to a mangled heap of metal.
‘The suggestion that you made that, because of your previous driving disqualifications you would not knowingly have exceeded the speed limit, is clear nonsense.’
The judge said the most grievous loss was to the 13-year-old daughter of Ms Ozden, whose victim impact statement was read to the court.
A three-minute compilation of CCTV showing the Range Rover SVR speeding along the road – shortly before it clipped a kerb and became airborne – was also shown the court before the judge passed sentence.
Ms Ozden’s sister Maya fought back tears as she watched the footage of the car hurtling along the road in a cloud of dust before slamming into a Tesla advertising hoarding.
Iraqi born Kazem, who wore a white T shirt and black track suit trousers, had pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving at a previous hearing.
He has been in custody since January amid fears by police that his family were attempting to help him flee the country on a private jet.
Beautician Yagmur Ozden, 33, died instantly after being ejected from the rear of Rida Kazem’s £180,000 Range Rover SVR
Kazem, 24, who was ‘showing off’ to his two passengers, smiled as he was sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court today
The Land Rover is pictured from above on the tracks as the Park Royal station can be seen in the background
A crane truck lifts the Tesla car out of the crash scene after a Range Rover collided with it near Park Royal Station in London
Flowers were attached to the railings where the 4×4 Range Rover smashed through to eventually land on the tube tracks at Park Royal station
Family members of Ms Ozden wept as the CCTV from the Tesla garage showed the moment it slammed into the garage leaving a trail of dust in its wake.
Other CCTV from Park Royal underground station showed Kazem being ejected from the driver’s seat and ending up on the platform as the car landed on the tracks.
The court was told he had two previous speeding convictions and lost his licence for six months.
Four impact statements, including those from the daughter of the victim and a survivor of the crash, were read out in court.
Melek Ozden, 13, said she is in pain every day and wants justice for her mother.
She said: ‘I am still in shock. I miss mum, she was my best friend and I miss the simple things like cooking pasta and going to the park. We had a favourite song by Dua Lipa called Electricity that I can never listen to now.
‘It is sad that I cannot say goodbye.’
She added: ‘Even if he gets a life sentence it doesn’t change anything. I want him to go to prison for a long time so that this cannot happen to anyone else.’
Zamarod Arif, who survived the crash, said she suffers mental and physical pain and now suffers from survivors guilt.
In her statement read by the prosecuting barrister Arif said she had suffered depression since the accident and had considered taking her own life.
‘I no longer feel like a whole person,’ her statement read.
The driver’s front seat passenger, Zamarod Arif, survived as she was wearing a seat belt and suffered a broken arm and leg in the crash on the A40
Police are pictured at the scene this morning near the Tesla Centre close to Park Royal underground station as railings can be seen damaged behind near the railway tracks
The damaged Tesla car is pictured being removed from the scene last August
Rescuers stand near the crash site where a Range Rover veered off the road onto the Piccadilly Line train track after colliding with Tesla, at Park Royal Station in West London
Police stand at Park Royal Station in West London, where a Range Rover collided with Tesla and then veered off the road onto the Piccadilly Line train track
This picture shows where the impact areas were before the Land Rover ended up on the tracks after the horror crash on Monday morning
A taxi driver who was charging his Tesla when the Range Rover crashed through the garage said he is in pain every day and feared he was going to die when he was struck by glass and other debris.
Defence barrister Nicholas Rhodes told the court Kazem had wished he had been killed in the crash rather than the young mother.
He had suggested that the family of the victim should decide what sentence he should get – an idea that was rejected by the court.
Mr Rhodes said: ‘He knows the gravity of the case. This is a human tragedy for all those affected. All of them will leave court today with a sense of loss, pain and suffering. No sentence will remove the pain and loss.’
The court was told that in pre-sentence reports and a psychological report Kazen had said he might not have been driving the car at the time of the accident as he had no recollection of it.
The victim’s sister Maya raged at British justice and said the sentence was not long enough.
Speaking outside court, she said: ‘This is so painful for us. What is wrong with British justice? He has killed my sister and will be out in a few years.’
Members of Kazem’s family who had packed the public gallery wept and blew kisses to him as he was led away to begin his sentence.
Kazem was told he must serve two thirds of the sentence before being released.
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